Colorado corrections officials are investigating whether a paroled white-supremacist prison-gang member at the center of the investigation into the execution-style slaying of state prison chief Tom Clements was ordered by the gang to do a "hit," a source told The Denver Post on Thursday.

"What's not known is whether this was ordered or a crime of opportunity," said a Department of Corrections employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The source said a gang leader in prison, called a "shot caller," could order a member to kill someone. Shortly after Clements' slaying Tuesday night, Colorado placed all 20 of its prisons on modified lock-down.

The suspect was identified as Evan Spencer Ebel, 28, a parolee in metro Denver, according to federal and state officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Ebel was identified as a member of a white-supremacist prison gang known as the 211s.

Ebel led Texas authorities on a wild chase and shootout Thursday and is now the focus of the investigation into the shooting death of Clements and a Denver pizza-delivery driver.

Ebel has a criminal record dating to 2003 that includes convictions on robbery, menacing and weapons charges. In 2006, he was charged with assault on a correctional officer.

Ebel was identified as the driver of a black four-door Cadillac with Colorado license plates that was speeding south in Texas on Thursday.

Colorado authorities had urged the public to be on the lookout for a dark Cadillac or Lincoln seen near Clements' home Tuesday night. Clements, the executive director of the state Department of Corrections, was shot as he opened the door of his Monument home.

Wise County Sheriff David Walker said at a news conference that the suspect was wounded by deputies in a gun battle and was on life support and considered brain-dead at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth.

The chase and gun battle began with a routine traffic stop by a Montague County sheriff's deputy at the intersection of U.S. 287 and Texas 59 in Texas, the Wise County Messenger reported.

The Cadillac driver shot the deputy and fled, reaching speeds of up to 100 mph and firing from his window at pursuing officers, Walker said.

The Cadillac eventually was smashed by an 18-wheeler in Decatur, northwest of Fort Worth, and the driver emerged with a handgun. He fired several rounds at officers, who then returned fire, Walker said.

A black Cadillac with Colorado license plates was involved in a shooting and chase in Texas. (Provided by KTVT CBS-DFW)

"He didn't plan on being taken alive," said Rex Hoskins, the police chief in Decatur. "He was trying to hurt somebody."

Hoskins told the Messenger that the suspect fired 20 to 30 rounds from an automatic or semiautomatic weapon.

Authorities have not yet officially identified the suspect. His fingerprints were being taken to confirm his identity, Texas authorities said.

"There's no identification on him — nothing," Walker said.

"He needed to be taken off the street, no matter what," Walker said.

Colorado law enforcement officials flew to Texas to investigate the man in connection with the killing of Clements and others, Walker said.

Colorado authorities are investigating whether there is a connection between the Cadillac driver and the slaying of 27-year-old pizza-delivery driver Nathan Collin Leon, who answered a call in Denver on Sunday and was shot multiple times.

Denver police spokeswoman Raquel Lopez said Denver and Golden detectives were on their way to Texas to join the investigation.

"We're not talking about evidence," she said.

On their Twitter feed, Denver police said, "There is a strong connection with the Texas case."

Reached at his police station Thursday night, Hoskins said he knew of no evidence that linked the Cadillac to the Leon case.

"There's nothing that's been processed in that car," he said. "It's locked up and will be processed by the Texas Rangers tomorrow."

El Paso County investigators are en route to Texas to probe possible links between Ebel and Clements' death.

Clements, 58, was shot in the chest at about 8:45 p.m. Tuesday as he answered the door of his home on Colonial Park Drive in Monument. His wife, Lisa, called 911. Sheriff's officials said robbery was not a motive.

At least one witness reported seeing a dark Cadillac or Lincoln that was running with no one in it shortly before the shooting. There are no street lights in the area.

The driver of the Cadillac or Lincoln emerged as the main person of interest in Clements' shooting, but Colorado officials stopped short of directly linking the Texas and Monument events.

"The El Paso County Sheriff's Office has been in contact with authorities in Texas since the time they were involved in a pursuit and officer involved shooting earlier today," the sheriff's office said in a statement late Thursday. "We began a high level of information exchange and have since sent some of our investigators to Texas to meet with the authorities there and get a better sense on whether or not the suspect from Texas is linked to the Clements shooting."

A public memorial service for Clements is set for Monday at New Life Church, 11025 Voyager Parkway in Colorado Springs. A private funeral is set for Sunday.

Clements was heralded by Gov. John Hickenlooper and others for a long list of reforms in his two-year term, including reducing the number of inmates in administrative segregation and reducing the state's recidivism rate.

Clements oversaw the closure of two prisons in the past two years and was making plans for the possible closure of others in response to a drastic drop in the number of inmates.

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